The Delta
Spider World, Book 04
by Colin Wilson
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As with the first volume, Spider World: The Tower, I owe a considerable debt of gratitude to my friend Donald Seaman for comments and suggestions. My children Sally, Damon and Rowan have also provided some useful guidelines. David Ellis made some interesting and useful suggestions for the Delta section. And I should like to acknowledge — somewhat belatedly — that the original idea of writing a “children’s book” came from my friend Roald Dahl, who will no doubt be appalled at the outcome of his rash suggestion.
Cornwall, 1987
INTRODUCTION
For as long as men can remember, the earth has been dominated by giant insects, and ruled by poisonous telepathic spiders, who breed human beings for food. The Spider Lord Cheb is reputed to be a hundred-eyed monster tarantula who is virtually deathless. The few humans who remain free live in underground lairs in the desert, and are continually hunted by the death spiders, who float overhead in silken balloons, and whose will-power probes the desert landscape like searchlight beams.
Niall and his family live in an underground lair that once belonged to a tiger beetle. From his grandfather Jomar, Niall hears tales of the days when human beings were masters of the earth, but finds them hard to believe. He also hears stories of the underground city of Dira, the largest colony of “free” humans in existence, and of the Great Delta, the area of jungle inhabited by man-eating plants and deadly insects.
When two members of the family are killed in the Delta, Niall and his father set out across the desert for the underground city of Dira, to escort the beautiful Ingeld — now a widow — back to her own people. On the great plateau, they take refuge in an immense ruined citadel, and for the first time, Niall begins to believe that men once ruled the earth. In Dira, Niall meets his attractive cousin Dona. But it is with Princess Merlew, daughter of King Kazak, that he falls in love. He is tempted by Kazak’s offer to settle in the underground city, until he realises that Merlew regards him as little more than a child. Angry and disappointed, he sets out with his father on the long return journey. On the way, they take refuge from a sandstorm in the ruins of an ancient city, and there find a strange machine that dates from the twenty-first century. Inside it, Niall finds a telescopic metal rod, which he can use as a spear. And it is with this rod that Niall kills a death spider, and so brings upon his family — and upon Kazak’s underground city — the wrath of the Spider Lord himself. One day, he returns to the burrow to find his father dead, and the remainder of his family kidnapped by the spiders.
He follows them, hoping to find an opportunity to free his mother and sisters, but is himself captured by the spiders. They take him across the sea, to a great city that was once inhabited by human beings. Now its buildings are crumbling, and vast spider webs stretch between the skyscrapers. There he learns that human beings are less badly treated than he supposed. The human servants of the spiders are ruled by women — since females are the dominant sex among spiders — and they live in communes. Men and women are strictly segregated. Only the slaves — who are little more than imbeciles — are eaten by the spiders.
In the centre of the spider city stands the mysterious white tower, constructed by men of old for some long-forgotten purpose. Every attempt by the spiders to penetrate its smooth, glass-like walls has been unsuccessful. Niall witnesses the latest attempt by the servants of the bombardier beetles — led by the sapper Bill Doggins — and comes close to being blown to pieces. The tower evidently holds some important secret.
In the spider city, King Kazak has once again established himself as a leader of men, and is collaborating with the spiders. When Niall again encounters Merlew, he begins to believe that she may be in love with him after all. From Kazak, he learns the horrible truth about the fate of the spider-servants, and is strongly tempted by an offer to become the King’s ally. But another glimpse into Merlew’s true feelings drives him to escape.
With the aid of the telescopic rod, he learns the secret of entering the white tower. It is a time capsule, left there by the men of old before they left the earth in giant space transports. And during the next few days, Niall learns the past history of the human race from a humanoid computer called the Steegmaster. There is only one secret that the computer refuses to divulge — how human beings can conquer the spiders. This is something Niall has to learn for himself.
Hunted by the spiders, he takes refuge in the slave quarter of the city. He succeeds in becoming the overseer of a contingent of slaves, whom he leads to the city of the bombardier beetles, known to the slaves as Crashville. Because the beetles have always defended themselves with detonations of hot gas, they adore explosions — the bigger and louder, the better. Niall has arrived on Boomday, their festival of explosions, organised by the chief explosives expert, Bill Doggins. During the festival, Niall gains an unexpected ally in the beautiful Odina, a guard Commander who has fallen in love with him. And, when Boomday in Crashville culminates in unforeseen disaster, Doggins also agrees to become Niall’s ally, in exchange for Niall’s agreement to lead him to the Fortress, a disused barracks in the slave quarter, where Doggins hoped to find explosives.
He finds far more than he expected; not only explosives, but “reapers,” the deadliest weapon — apart from the hydrogen bomb — ever invented by man. Trapped by the spiders, they escape back to the city of the beetles in stolen spider balloons; but Doggins is forced to use his Reaper to destroy the army of spiders besieging the city. Their escapade has started a war between the beetles and the spiders.
They are taken before the ruler of the beetles — the Master — to answer for their insubordination. There they are confronted by the Spider Lord, speaking through the mouth of Odina, whose brain he controls. The beetles agree to hand over Doggins for punishment, but have their doubts about the legality of handing over Niall, a free human being who had every right to escape. The Spider Lord, enraged at the thought that his prey might elude him, tries to strangle Niall. In the ensuing struggle, Odina is killed. And the beetles, incensed by this attempt at treachery, decide that Niall shall remain free. As he tries to express his gratitude, Niall loses consciousness. . .
PART ONE
The Councils
The first time Niall woke up he was in agony. His throat felt as if he had swallowed a red hot sword, and his eyes were throbbing with pain. He tried to sit up, but a cool hand rested on his forehead and gently forced him back on to the pillow. The pain seemed to dissolve away.
The next time he woke it was daylight, and the room was full of pale blue light. He was lying in a wide bed, with his bare arms on the coverlet. Through the transparent blue wall he could see a large tree with yellow flowers; it shaded the room from the sunlight. The ceiling was covered with a pattern like rippling green leaves.
He raised his hands to his throat, and his fingers encountered a hard shell. His neck was completely encased in a substance that looked like dried clay, held in place by bandages. Suddenly he realised that he was naked, and that the thought mirror was longer round his neck. He sat up in alarm, then saw that his clothes were on a chair beside the bed, and that the thought mirror lay on top of them. Beside it lay the telescopic rod. He sighed with relief.
The door opened, and Selima came into the room. She smiled when she saw that he was awake.
“Are you feeling better?”
“Much better.” But his voice was unnaturally hoarse.
She laughed. “You sound like my grandfather.” She sat beside him on the bed, and placed both hands on his cheeks. He immediately felt the pleasant, cool sensation that he had experienced in the night. The ache in his throat vanished. He asked her: “How do you do that? Do you have something on your hands?”
“No.” She showed him her palms. “It is a power that comes from my mother. Our family has the gift of healing.”
Niall felt as though he was floating down a slow stream, under green overarching branches. He allowed himself to sink into sleep.
When he woke again, Doggins was standing by his bedside. The window was open, and he could hear voices of children playing in the fountain. Behind Doggins stood an old man whose sunburnt face was covered with wrinkles and lines; the penetrating grey eyes were sunk deep in their sockets. He wore a shabby tunic of a dull green colour, like dying moss, and was carrying a bag of the same material.